


in spite of deep fears that the world would divide us

by josiewrites



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, High School, Secret Relationship, Summer, lucaya - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2019-11-16 09:24:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18091715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/josiewrites/pseuds/josiewrites
Summary: Maya no longer lets herself mourn over something that never happened. It doesn’t matter if it’s taken years, this is better than anything that could have possibly begun next to a campfire in Texas when she was fourteen years old.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little rough but I hope whoever reads this enjoys it. Please comment and leave kudos and all that. I appreciate you all. - Josie
> 
> PS- I posted a little one-shot months ago called “come a little closer (‘cause time is all we got)” and that little excerpt is what this was originally meant to be a part of. Except completely reworked including that scene.

Maya gets drawn back in.

And who is she kidding? She was always going to get pulled back to him. 

(After campfires and tentative confessions in Texas under a starlit sky.)

(Bad dates resulting in smoothies poured over Lucas's head.)

(After pushing him away and ski lodges and Josh and Lucas choosing Riley. Empty promises of _I could never hurt you_ )

(After breakups and radio silence - Who did he think he was not wanting to be with Riley anymore? Maya didn’t look at him for months after that. Riley still wanted to be with him.)

Lucas has that way about him, that magnetic quality. He says he doesn’t like that their friendship isn’t how it once was. There’s too much between them woven throughout fragmented pieces in time the last few years, and yet not enough. 

He wants to fix it, heal and repair whatever damage they both managed to do to a friendship that, in all honesty, was already a little bit rocky from the start. 

Maya thinks it’s a bad idea because it’s summer break and it’s just the two of them and if that doesn’t equate a formula for disaster, she’s not sure what does. 

Except, Lucas is all charming smiles and kind eyes and when he suggests they spend time together over break — since Riley, Zay, Farkle, and Smackle are coincidently all away — Maya finds it really hard to say no to him. 

...

“Ranger Rick, why are you pushing for us to suddenly be best friends?”

Lucas rolls his eyes at her, feigning irritation. 

“Because believe it or not, I actually like spending time with you.”

Maya tries to ignore the heat that rises to her cheeks.

...

There’s a subtle shift. 

Or maybe it’s actually a huge one, considering it’s almost never been just the two of them without the rest of their friends. 

So, Maya can’t help but feel as though this time spent together is moving very fast. If anything, she assumed this was more of just an invitation to talk to each other more, like texting more often. Or if they were physically hanging out, maybe they would be grabbing lunch once a week or so. 

After all, she barely considered him a friend anymore. Over time it had been too difficult to face the boy she sent away at the ski lodge. The boy that broke her best friends heart soon after. 

Lucas is persistent.

Initially he asks her to hang out at Topanga’s, space they’re both familiar with. Then for dinner at his house, he knows her mom is gone a lot and, despite his slightly strained relationship with his dad, both his parents welcome his friends with open arms. 

She even asks him over once or twice simply just so she doesn’t have to be alone with her mother away working extra hours and going to more auditions during the summer. 

And at first she won’t admit it, but with Riley and the rest of their friends away, spending all this time with Lucas is actually a welcomed distraction from all the quiet in her life. 

...

She crawls in through his window after a text from Lucas confirming that he’s home. 

“Maya? What are you doing here?”

She shrugs, “You said you were home, figured this is what we do now.”

He’s not bothered. She’s been climbing in through Riley’s window unannounced for years. 

Maybe he considers it an honor. Maybe he tries to steady his heartbeat at the fact she came here on her own just to see him. 

...

Maya spends three days a week doing a summer art program at the high school and more often than not, Lucas insists on walking with her. He’s awake early, doesn’t have anywhere else to be, and simply wants to walk her and Maya can’t usually find a reason to argue with him.

He might be feeling a little brave as they’re on their way to the school one morning and maybe his hand reaches out for hers. 

Lucas can feel his lungs constricting out of something that feels similar to fear, it could just be his nerves. This isn’t something they do. Yet, the more time they spend together the more comfortable they get with physical closeness and Maya really doesn’t hate this, as scary as it would be to say aloud. 

He likes the contrast of their hands, how her hand is small and soft and the way it fits in his larger hand.

She only just looks at him a little strangely but the corners of her mouth quirk up _just so_ and all the breath that Lucas didn’t realize he was holding releases in an easy exhale as Maya lets out a laugh at his obvious nervousness and squeezes his hand to let him know it’s fine. More than fine, even.

“I gotta go, Cowboy. See you later?” 

Then she’s pressing a kiss to his cheek and bounding off up the steps to the school before he can even manage to say goodbye.

...

Later that day, when Lucas is waiting on the front steps of the school for her and Maya's hand reaches for his without a second thought, he realizes that he needs to start getting his wild heart in check.

...

This is the longest Maya and Riley have ever been apart, with Riley being gone up until the week before school’s supposed to start. 

When time’s found to chat on the phone, Maya didn’t prepare herself for the topic of Lucas. 

“Does Lucas miss me?”

Maya’s grateful that Riley can’t see the way she stiffens when the latter mentions his name. She doesn’t tell her how close they’ve become. That every space left in her life by Riley being away had instead been filled with Lucas. 

“We all miss you, Riles.”

If Riley can tell that Maya deflected her question, she doesn’t say anything about it. Yet, Maya can’t help the guilt that settles low in her belly when she thinks of the boy that she and her best friend both care so much about. 

...

This _friendship_ Lucas pushed for starts to get a little blurry when he kisses her. 

Maybe because it’s confusing.

Or maybe it’s because when he moves his face toward her own and touches his lips to hers for the first time, everything around them slows down to a crawl and it’s _just_ the two of them. 

Those little whispers of _RileyRileyRiley_ cease completely and become the furthest thing from Maya’s mind because it’s not so easy to conjure up any coherent thoughts when Lucas runs his tongue across her bottom lip before he tugs lightly with his teeth. 

Maya no longer lets herself mourn over something that never happened. It doesn’t matter if it’s taken years, this is better than anything that could have possibly begun next to a campfire in Texas when she was fourteen years old. 

...

She really likes kissing him. Like, _really_. 

Because after that first time, it happens once more. In the dark corner of a movie theater away from prying eyes, where surely no one will see them. Lucas just wanted to kiss her, as Maya was laughing at the ridiculously cliche horror movie playing out in front of him. He taps her arm and, for a moment, he thinks she might snap at him for distracting her from the movie but instead she leans in first. 

Then again. In his kitchen when they're helping with dinner and his mother's stepped out of the room for a few moments. If she notices their flushed faces and slightly more red lips as she enters back into the kitchen, she says nothing.

And again and again.

It's not something either of them wants to stop doing. This new stage of closeness causing deeper feelings to bloom and burst from their chests.

...

“I want to be with you.”

His words hit her like a bucket of ice water. Though after the initial shock of what he’s murmured wears off, she’s able to process it a little.

“What?”

Of course, this is more to her than just hanging out and having a few intense make-out sessions here and there. Of course, she wants to be with him, too. Maya can’t work out why she’s so surprised that he really does feel the same way, but it's probably because she’s barely addressed her own feelings with herself.

Lucas is _grinning_ , the idiot. Clearly able to see that he’s caught her off guard.

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

So she closes her eyes, letting everything fade except the question Lucas has just asked her. Then she asks herself a question: what is it that _you_ want? And when her eyes open and it’s still just him in front of her, she knows that deserves to have what she wants. That she should allow herself, just this one time, to not push down her feelings so someone else doesn’t get hurt. 

Before his smile starts to fade at her hesitancy, she says the word she’s dying to say. 

“Yes.”

...

“What if we let this be just ours?”

Maya’s been thinking about it a lot lately. It’s not fair to say that good things don’t happen for her but when you’ve had more than your fair share of bad shit happening, and people leaving and a lack of consistency, in general, your whole life, it’s hard to keep up the hope. 

It just makes sense that this should fall apart, as so much else has. 

Lucas is frowning deeply, brows knit tightly together as though he’s attempting to fight off showing the hurt he’s feeling at her words and she can tell immediately. 

“You mean keep us a secret? Are you ashamed?”

“No, Huckleberry. Of course not,” because what in the world would she ever have to be ashamed of when it came to _him_? 

He is the epitome of a good guy. Purely.

Trying to lighten the moment, she presses a quick peck to his lips - and then another - as reassurance. 

She lets this one linger a little longer, the gentle pressure of his mouth against her own and the caress of his fingers against her skin just under the hem of her shirt and all the tension that had built up within Lucas in the few moments fizzles out. 

She does for him what he does for her. Calms him, quiets the negative thoughts threatening to badger their way into his mind. 

“Then why, Maya?”

“It’s— it’s just, do you remember that science project in eighth grade?”

She thinks about that sludge project often. While the point of the project was girls in STEM, that beaker of murky sludge water held between her and Lucas was something that stuck with her. 

“We couldn’t see each other, Lucas. And that’s how it’s always been, just too much shit in the way. Our friends included.”

And okay, even their first date was kind of terrible with both Zay and Farkle watching from the side of the room. There was so much pressure from every direction each step of the way. 

Like, Riley believing Maya had turned into her. Maya was only now starting to admit how much damage that had done. She’d lost herself even more after freshman year when Lucas and Riley were at the pinnacle of their relationship. 

Josh, too. Putting ideas in her head when it came to her feelings about Lucas. Telling her that she and Riley definitely didn’t like the same guy. 

At that time, Maya was hellbent to believe anything that meant escaping her feelings for Lucas. 

It’s not like Lucas doesn’t understand what she’s saying but they were younger then. This situation is different. 

“Maya, where is this coming from?”

“Riley comes back soon.”

“Oh.”

“She asked about you last time we talked. What did we think was going to happen once our friends are all back and school is starting again? We haven’t talked about it, Lucas. Everyone’s going to have something to say.”

“So what? I want to be with you, I am with you. That’s not going to change.”

Lucas means it with everythingeverything _everything_ he has. This isn’t something he’s willing to let end so easily. 

“Can we just hold off on telling them? Please?”

He sees the desperation in her eyes and hears it in her voice and he gives in. 

“Yeah, yeah. Okay.”

And if she asked him to walk through fire for her, he probably would. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading/commenting/leaving kudos so far. It really is part of what keeps me writing. 
> 
> Also, I have most of the third and (maybe?) final chapter written so please hold me accountable and comment!
> 
> I appreciate you all. - Josie.

Summer is ending soon.

It’s like time hasn’t been passing, these ever so still and quiet moments with just the two of them the last few months. As though a solid peacefulness has been blanketed over them accompanied with the sheer faith they've both clung to that everything will be okay.

But the world’s going to start spinning again, all too fast, breaking down the walls they've built up around themselves and reality will be right there waiting with open arms once they've been dragged back to it.  


Maya knows this isn’t right. That when the truth comes out - and it will, it always does - people will be hurt.

Riley will be hurt.

So she promises herself, she promises him, that she'll enjoy this right now.

...

"You're my boyfriend, so, you have to."

She's goading him about something or another when the endearment slips out. His eyes light up so bright and the smug little smile that paints his lips momentarily disarms Maya, catches her off guard in a way that leaves her breathless.

"What? Stop staring at me like that."

Lucas has a bad habit of doing that sometimes, staring at her when he thinks she doesn't notice those soft green eyes boring into her entire being. Secretly she likes it a little bit, the way he looks at her as if nothing else and no one else exists around them. Maya's reminded of campfires and the frequent glances sent her way every few seconds by the boy that is now hers. She's reminded of unbridled hope, with a dash of awkwardness and confusion and trying to navigate the uncharted terriority that is teenage feelings when you're feeling it all for the first time. 

It's not any easier now, a couple of years down the way. If anything, her heart beats a little faster and her breath catches in her throat. The only difference is now they both know how the other actually feels and it only amplifies all these emotions tenfold. Leaves her dizzy.

"You just called me your boyfriend."

"That's what you are."

"Yeah but you've never said it out loud before."

Maybe she hasn't. To be fair, there isn't much of an opportunity to say it out loud much when you're keeping your relationship under wraps for the most part.

But she likes calling Lucas her boyfriend and she tells him so. 

Shows him so.

...

Their little world they’ve created where it’s just the two of them gets a little bigger when Zay has the displeasure of walking in on them at Lucas’s apartment when he’s gotten back into town from Austin.

Lucas is on top of Maya, lips attached to her neck, settled between her legs and Zay’s truly thanking whatever gods there are in the universe that they’re both fully clothed. Still, he has his hands covering his face and he's muttering about how he needs to wash his eyes out all while turning his back on the scene that had been on display right in front of him.

“You ever hear of knocking, Zay?”

He's decided just now it's something he's going to work on being better at. Never had to be before.

Maya’s quickly up from their position on the couch pushing on Lucas's chest and combing her messy hair back with her fingers, not bothering to hide her annoyance at the interruption. Lucas stays seated where he's at, slightly flustered and with a pillow now resting atop his lap.

“You ever hear of telling your best friend what’s going on in your life?” Zay retorts, but his eyes are pointed toward Lucas.

Even though the question isn’t directed at Maya, she feels that tinge of guilt again just simmering beneath the surface and threatening to boil and bubble and spill everywhere. She’s not sure what that would mean for her and Lucas and the thoughts start to invade her space like an unwelcome annoyance, taking her out of the moment at present.

Lucas only looks toward Maya, he never said anything because it's what she wanted and he just wants her. Secret or not. So he's respected her wishes because she believes the cost of being public is her lifelong friendship with Riley but she wants him, too. So if he can protect what's important to her and still get to be with than God, he will.

Zay starts laughing to clear the air when their silence drags on just a little too long, “I’m just kidding. I’m happy for you two, it was only a matter of time.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Lucas speaks for the first time since Zay got there, “But you can’t tell anyone else, man.”

“Cross my heart,” he makes the gesture and everything.

...

“You know it was always gonna be you, right? Before I moved here, he talked about you guys all the time. Sure he would say things about Riley but man, I immediately knew who you were when I got here and saw you. He never shut up about you.”

That time when Zay told her that Lucas referred to her as the _blonde beauty_ constantly kind of sits at the front of her mind. Lucas was such a cheeseball, still is actually.

Zay tells her this when the three of them are at Lucas’ together, just hanging out.

They like that they don’t have to pretend they aren’t a couple around him. And Zay feels privileged that he gets to know their secret while the rest of their friends don’t, so he revels in that knowledge.

“I don’t know if that’s true.”

Because she’s not. From the moment Lucas showed up in her and Riley’s lives, everything changed in an instant. The cute boy on the subway was suddenly the catalyst for mixing up their whole dynamic. Spinning and twisting up everything they were once used to. Suffice it to say that things were a bit more simple before Maya pushed Riley into his lap that fated day. It's something she's not sure if she regrets. Often wonders if it even matters that she saw Lucas first, talked to him first. She never gave him the time to catch up and process what was even happening before she was gone and sending Riley his way. So inevitably he liked Riley. He dated Riley.

“It is,” Zay’s got a smile that’s hard not to trust in, “He’s more himself when he’s with you.”

“He still chose Riley, Zay."

“Did he?”

Another thing she’s not really sure of because she was so busy making sure Riley got exactly what she wanted. All the while, never truly letting herself be available to Lucas.

“Hope you weren’t saying anything bad about me,” Lucas jokes as they cease their talking when he makes his way back into the room, a giant bowl of popcorn in hand.

“Of course we were,” she grins, pressing a kiss to his cheek before back settling against him as he resumes his spot next to her.

...

Lucas mentions it later, the way her and Zay quieted when he walked back into the room earlier.

"What were you and Zay talking about earlier?"

"Hm?"

He's sprawled out on her bed while Maya's sitting on the floor, back against the side of her bed and knees pulled up toward the rest of her body with a sketchbook resting against her legs. She looks deep in focus on the page in front of her but he sees her lips quirk at his question and the way her pencil stills, hovering above the paper.

"When we were watching movies and I went to grab the popcorn," he knows that she knows exactly when and what he's talking about, that she's just being stubborn and making him work for an answer but he humors her anyway because he likes the games she plays. He likes being a part of everything with her.

"Was that today? I don't really remember."

"Maya.."

She rolls her eyes and turns to Lucas, lets her sketchbook tumble to the floor as she gets up to sit on the edge of the bed next to him, "Zay was just telling me about how you apparently couldn't shut up about me to him before he moved here."

It's not exactly the full truth of all they talked about, but her answer satiates him enough.

Lucas groans, leave it to Zay to reveal embarrassing things to Maya. She already lived for getting stories and information about him. More stuff to make fun of him with. Most of it, she'd come up with on her own and it was already bad enough she knew about him calling her the blonde beauty. Now with Lucas and Maya being together, Zay is all fired of up with a repertoire of never before heard 'great Lucas stories' to tell his best friend's girlfriend.

"You're so lame with your crush on me, Sundance," her smile is beaming and her eyes are teasing and Lucas can't help but laugh at his own expense.

"I more than have a crush on you, Maya. I'm pretty sure I even l--"

Maya's index finger is resting against his mouth before he can get the rest of his words out, pleading blue eyes insistent for him to say something else, anything else.

"Don't say it. Please," he nods softly against her hand still resting upon his lips and moves to grab it in his own, twining their fingers together and settling their joined hands atop his chest, hoping she can somehow feel what he wants to say to her in the elevated rhythm of his heart.

But it's not the right night for grand declarations that she isn't ready to hear yet.

Because she might say it back.

...

They're laid out on the grassy earth beneath them, side by side, watching the clouds above at a park near to Maya's home. Maya's been quiet all morning, far too quiet and it wasn't something Lucas found unnerving until the words he was speaking seemed to be passing through her ears - in one and out the other - as if there was nothing but simply an empty space in between.

He lifts himself up on his elbows and peers over her at her, "Babe," she looks toward him as if she's just registering he's been there the whole time, "What's on your mind?"

Maya shakes her head, but Lucas knows better. He knows her. It's irritating as hell even if she appreciates it in the end. He leans further toward her, leaving a kiss on her forehead.

She exhales, letting out a deep sigh before feeling calmer in just a matter of seconds, "I wish we could stay like this. I'm scared that it won't. Like there's some timer of doom hanging over us."

Riley's back tomorrow and they have plans to spend the whole day together. Maya misses her best friend, so so much but diving back into how things were before Riley left - pretending that everything is exactly the same - is leaving her with an anxious coil in her stomach.

"Maya, it's you and me," as if that simple statement explains it all.

And there's such conviction in his voice that it sounds legitimate. Like nothing bad will happen.

"Yeah," she agrees because she wants to believe so badly, "You and me."

She stops herself from adding _for now_ onto the end of it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I haven't abandoned this story (or 'Directions') - though I know this fandom is barely active these days. Life has just been happening.
> 
> Enjoy chapter 3, 4 will be up eventually but I've made a big dent in writing it so it'll be completed soon.
> 
> Sorry for any typos or mistakes in the writing, or if anyone feels out of character.
> 
> Thanks to those sticking around, leaving kudos and comments (I love comments) - Josie.

Bay window time is scheduled immediately when Riley is back home and completely unpacked from her time in Philadelphia.

So much of Maya’s summer was Lucas, if not all of it. It wasn’t meant to be, it certainly wasn’t ever her plan but she’s so contented that things happened the way they did.

Except she can’t share any of it with her best friend. If it were any other boy besides Lucas, Riley would already know in a heartbeat.

Riley would know that they spent the first three weeks of break hanging out pretty consistently before Lucas took Maya's hand one day on the way to her art program at the school. That it became a normal occurrence for them, that Maya loves how much bigger his hands are than hers and it somehow still feels like a perfect fit. She would tell Riley about the first time he kissed her and how it threw everything completely out of orbit, shaking her whole world up in the best sort of way. And how Lucas asked her to be his girlfriend. That he knows her so well, almost as well as Riley knows her and she likes that because it makes her feel safe.

The worst part of this all is how it feels like a betrayal of sorts. Whether Maya saw him or talked to him first, Lucas isn't a prize for one of them to claim ownership of. But Riley's always felt that Lucas was hers first. Maybe Maya and Riley don't go by that whole silly "girl code" pact but they do have ring power and Thunder and lightning and all the things that make up their friendship. So Maya has to be breaking at least a dozen rules being with Lucas now.

There's also the very simple fact that Riley and Lucas did officially date for about a year. Maya was fine. _Seriously_ okay with it, because she wasn't being herself when she initially liked him. Or thought she liked him, whatever. Point is - once that was all out of the way and once Riley and Josh and everyone that thought Maya wasn't Maya - she had a role to play as the supportive best friend to the girl who was given the purple jellybean by the guy she likes. 

_Tell her you love her_ , Maya had told him.

A string of _please don't, please don't, please don't_ echoing in the air surrounding her long after Lucas left her sitting on the bench in front of the fire.

Lucas didn't say that to Riley, Maya found out. Because while she was putting on this unaffected front, Riley filled Maya in on all the details on their relationship when it was just starting. Their first kiss as an official couple, their first official date away from friends and away from the usual meeting place at Riley's mother's bakery, how Lucas was only allowed over at her home if Cory had both eyes on him at all times. At the beginning of sophomore year, Lucas properly asked her to a school dance instead of just assuming they would go together and Riley was giddy about it. Maya heard about it for days. She skipped out on going to that dance, even when Riley suggested they should all go together. 

She heard the not so good things as well, especially there toward the end. Riley felt like Lucas was slipping away. With all of Riley's preconceived notions on what love is meant to be based on her parents romance, Lucas wasn't playing his part right.

Maya knows better now. Lucas was fitting into a role, too, just like she was.

Maya distinctly remembers thinking Lucas had screwed everything up in a monumental way when he broke up with Riley. Everything she had built to ensure Riley was happy was torn down, _just like that_. She held Riley as she cried and cried that weekend. Then the following week of school when Maya saw Lucas for the first time since he'd broken things off with Riley, she pretended that he didn't exist. For Riley. For herself. If she didn't ignore his existence and be angry on behalf of her friend, she would have to face the truth. It was easier not to admit what the truth was, how she felt. That maybe she was a little relieved it hadn't worked out.

Hangouts were a little awkward at the beginning, everyone refusing to pick a side. Riley being hurt, Maya being pissed, and Lucas just wanting to be friends with both girls again. The dynamic slid back as close to "normal" as it could with just a little time. 

Riley wants all that back now, being his girlfriend. Firmly believes that things can change and that he can change.

Maya and Lucas have certainly made a mess of things.

...

"1.. 2...3.." Maya counts softly to herself between breaths. Inhaling, then exhaling, then repeating the steps until she feels calm to enough to raise her fist to the door of the Matthew's apartment and knock as if she hasn't been standing here for ten minutes trying to work up the nerve to do so.

She'd seen Lucas earlier that day, he'd held her in his arms for a few moments before she was ready was to make her way over to Riley's home. Kissed her on the forehead for reassurance with promises of _you and me, you and me, you and me._

Maya thinks of that as her hand comes in contact with Matthew's door, of Lucas and his faith in everything that they are. She's less scared of what could happen when she thinks of him. He does that for her. 

When the door finally opens, Riley collides into her with melodic laughter and a bone-crushing hug melting away Maya's fears within just seconds. She missed her best friend so much.

"I'm glad you're back, Riley."

Riley's hand is in hers, dragging Maya toward her bedroom and to the bay window, "I missed you so much. We're never being away from each other for that long again."

It feels normal and like pieces have fallen into right spaces, sitting there in the window next to Riley after a couple of months.

"Deal."

Because it sounds so good to just accept the familiarity of all this as something that will last forever. Not as something that is almost certainly fleeting, like her relationship with Lucas. Both the best things, best people, in her life could be ripped away from her with this. 

But for right now she shoves that thought away, Maya's been doing that a lot lately.

"Tell me about your summer, Riles."

So she does. Riley tells her how it was staying with her grandparents and seeing them for the first time since Christmas. That her Uncle's Eric and Josh and Aunt Morgan all showed their faces at some point or another. At the mention of Josh's name, Riley pauses to gauge Maya's reaction. The latter stays unphased so Riley mentions him again.

"Josh asked about you," there's a light airy smile on her face, maybe a little mischevious- like she's up to something.

"Oh?" 

Maya fakes the intrigue, but Riley buys it. Josh and Maya haven't spoken in years and it was a childhood crush that's long since faded. Even without her current relationship status and the presence of Lucas in her life, she doesn't believe anything would've happened with her and Josh now or in the future. They truly are in different stages of life.

"He said he'd love to see you sometime soon."

"It's been a long time but I'm sure I'll eventually see him here at your place, it's bound to happen sooner or later. As far as making plans to see him, I'm good on that."

Riley looks a little disappointed.

"Are you sure? I want you to be happy, Maya."

It's such a Riley thing to think that happiness is directly linked to love. And some happiness is, of some sort. Whether it be romantic or platonic or whatever you want to call it.

"I'm sure, Riles. And besides, I am happy."

Riley's eyes narrow, appraising the girl in front of her before nodding and moving on, "How's Lucas?"

It was inevitable, that Riley was going to mention Lucas. It'd caught Maya by surprise the first time Riley had mentioned him when they spoke on the phone toward the very start of the summer when Maya and Lucas only began to get closer, just barely crossing that line between friends and something more. Maya's a little more prepared for it this time.

But her heart still plummets to her stomach.

"He's good, did you talk to him at all when you were away?"

Maya already knows the answer to the question that she's asking. 

Riley shrugs, "A little. I texted him while I was gone but it was nothing more than small talk. He seemed busy. One of the times, he said he was hanging out with you. Did you see him a lot this summer?"

_Yes._

"No," Maya feels a little part of herself chip away at that lie, but she's not ready for that truth to come out yet, she's not ready to hurt Riley like that. Or at all, "Just a few times."

"I miss him, Maya. I know he broke up with me but I keep hoping there's still a chance we could be together."

She knows Riley is wanting her to tell her not to give up, to keep trying to get Lucas back. Even when Riley and Lucas were together, that was never Maya's role. She listened, sure. She heard more than she wanted to know but Maya didn't agree with Riley's ideas on relationships. People were who they were and it was clear that Lucas wasn't the prince Riley thinks she needs. He wasn't going to be.

Maya should take the in she's given, right here, should say that there probably won't be that chance for them. She just _can't_.

Instead, she says, "It'll be okay," because in some way or another, everything will have to be okay eventually and maybe it's herself that she's telling those words to.

Riley shakes the thoughts from her head and wraps Maya in a hug, pulling back momentarily, "You know, you do look happy, the more I look at you."

"I am, Riley."

...

_come over, cowboy_

Within in twenty minutes of receiving Maya's text, Lucas is climbing in through her bedroom window with a goofy grin on his face upon seeing Maya.

"So," he draws the word out, settling next to Maya on the floor against her bed as she has her sketchbook secure in her lap, "How'd it go with Riley?"

"I'm happy she's back, I missed her. Had to see your face all summer instead."

Lucas rolls his eyes, "You love my face."

Maya shoulder bumps him before, setting down what she's working on and resting her head against his shoulder, "Yeah, I do. It went alright, though. She said Josh wanted to see me and talked about wanting you back. You don't have to worry about Josh."

Lucas reaches for Maya's hand and laces their fingers together, "I know. You don't have to worry about Riley."

She isn't. Not in that way anyway, but she squeezes Lucas' hand nonetheless.

After a few moments of silence Lucas speaks up again, "We're seeing them all tomorrow, don't you think it would be easier if we tell them now? I mean, Zay already knows so that's one down.

"I don't even want to think about it anymore," Maya groans.

Lucas chuckles, "Okay. How about we don't talk about this anymore and I buy you tacos and chimichangas instead and we just deal with our friends tomorrow?"

Maya's grateful for how understanding Lucas is being through all this leans up and presses a quick peck to his lips. They'll figure it out tomorrow.

"Sold."

...

It’s something so careless that leads Riley to be suspicious of Lucas and Maya.

They're at the bakery, all catching up with one another after the nearly entire summer apart. Maya's sat between Lucas and Zay on the bigger couch centered in the lobby, with Riley seated off to the side and Farkle and Isadora across from her. 

“Doesn’t that shirt belong to Lucas?”

Maya freezes briefly before recovering her composure. Fuck, how did she not realize? Even over just a span of a few months, it’s something like second nature to her - grabbing a shirt from his closet or a jacket that belongs to Lucas because it smells like him and she misses him when they're apart. Or she just needs a change of clothes because she never plans on crashing at his place. She has a number of his clothing item that she's stolen and makes a quick note to put them behind items of her own in her drawers at home so no one sees or suspects. 

Maybe it's too late for that.

"It's mine," Zay speaks up after a couple of beats of silence, "Lucas borrowed it a long time ago but I got it back. Maya spilled soda on herself when we were hanging out and I let her borrow it."

"Uh, yeah. I forgot to give it back to him. I wasn't even paying attention to what I put on this morning," Maya laughs it off.

"Huh," it's from Farkle but Riley's already accepted the answers Zay and Maya both provided and moved on.

Farkle's gaze lingers and none of the three on the couch meet his eyes.

...

"You're hiding something. You and Lucas both are," they're the first words out of Farkle's mouth the moment Maya opens the apartment door and sees him standing there.

Maya should've known better, after the small debacle with the shirt at Topanga's. She knew Farkle was paying attention to all of it.

"No one's hiding anything, Farkle."

He regards her strangely for a moment, standing in the doorway and eying her like he doesn't know who she is. It unnerves her but this isn't his business.

"Maybe not, but if you are I think we both know that the truth has a way of coming out when it's supposed to."

Maya wants to scoff, she truly wants to laugh in Farkle's face. Despite that it's been years since that New Year's Eve on the roof back in middle school, she would be lying if she said she was completely over it. Even if Farkle believes he did the right thing that evening - letting everyone know Riley's feelings for Lucas - it wasn't his place to do so and it certainly wasn't the time for it.

She steps forward, in front of him, " Exactly, Farkle. When it's supposed to. Not because someone takes it upon themselves to spill secrets that don't involve them. People get hurt that way."

"No, people get hurt because there's a secret in the first place."

"Farkle, until you know what's going on please don't say anything. We're friends."

She doesn't want to fight with him about this, whether he's right or not he doesn't know the full story. He's been in her life almost as long as Riley has, it sucks keeping this from him too. He's just a little more observant than Riley is though and thinks it's been when everything is out on the table for everyone to know about. 

"We are friends Maya, we're all friends. I won't say anything, I could even be wrong. Just be careful, I don't want you to get hurt either."

Maya nods and reaches out to pat his shoulder, "Thank you. Missed you this summer, Farkle."

"Missed you too. I'll see you later."

_Great._ One more thing to worry about.


End file.
